Eat Jersey City

"Gross" Things I've Eaten

2015-11-16T10:22:00.000-08:00

I saw this clickbait post on weird foods and decided to put up a post with a list of some of the unusual things I've eaten along with my impression. 1) Sheep's Head: It's in the list, but I didn't think it was weird at all. It's delicious, if a bit tedious to eat. Last time I had it at Union Republic in Jersey City at about 2:00 am during a drunken after hours party. It was great. 2) Balut: A perennial favorite on lists of gross foods, balut is awful looking but actually tastes great. Basically, it's egg and duck, both widely eat and enjoyed. In this case, you just happen to eat them together and the duck is also tiny (and you eat the bones, head, beak and feathers). YUM. 3) Fried scorpion: Verdict, not great. Tastes a bit like fried soft shell crab, but without any of the meat. And I have a mild insect phobia, so this was a tough one. 4) That thai liquor (is it vodka? I don't even know) with a dead snake in it. It was fucking gross. It smelled and tasted like rotten snake, unsurprisingly I guess. There is no upside. It's just ruined booze. Thanks for nothing Kevin Kamel. 5) Chicken feet: Overrated. Sorry chinese people, these just aren't good. It's basically just trying to gnaw mushy chicken skin off a foot. just because you can cook something doesn't mean you should. 6) Durian fruit: I had some once and it was basically unmemorable. And yeah, it stinks, but not quite so much as they say. 7) Crickets (and also chocolate covered grasshopper): They served it in a bar in brooklyn as a kinda of bar snack in bowls on each table. They also had it ground up with spices to salt the rims of some of their cocktails. eh. it was fine i guess. i'll take cashews next time though.

Deep Fried Burgers - They're As Good As You Hoped

2015-09-03T08:55:00.000-07:00

So I made some fried chicken a couple days ago and was, of course, left with a ton of oil that I didn't want to just pour out and waste. And no, I don't strain and save frying oil. I'm not that guy. But in an effort to be at least a little less wasteful I decided to try out an idea I've been thinking about for a while. Deep frying a burger.

Deep frying seems like a prefect way to cook a burger. Super high, fast heat transfer to get a crispy, brown crust fast enough to leave the interior nice and medium rare. I looked online for a recipe from America's Test Kitchen or Alton Brown or Serious Eats, but didn't see much. So I thought, "this must be a bad idea for some reason". Yet, there was the oil, ready to go. And I already had the ground beef. So, what the hell.

Of couse I needed cheese , but since I was deep frying I couldn't melt the cheese on the burger, so I stuffed it with some decent aged cheddar that i shaved. I also made the patty pretty flat, since I expected a dramatic shrink when it hit that hot oil. You'll see in the video I was right about that. Aged cheddar also worked out well because both burgers got holes when they shrunk up, and a softer cheese would have leaked, but the cheddar stayed in there. I also made the patties relatively small, about 4-5 oz each I'd guess. After forming them around the shaved cheddar I salted the outside only, because many chef's say mixing salt thoughout the patty causes it to develop a tougher sausage-like consistency instead of the looser ground meat a burger "should" have. Let it sit for a few minute for the salt to absorb and that's it, into the oil. So here's a video of the frying process. Please excuse how dirty my stove top is, I had just cooked a BUNCH of fried chicken. Notice how the burger is fully submerged when I put it in and slowly contracts and sticks out of the oil.

And here's a quick look at the interior after I pulled it out.

And finally, here's the first bite.

As you can see, the exterior has a delicious dark brown crust while almost the entire the interior is a perfect, uniform medium rare. This is much better than the results I've ever gotten with traditional methods of burger cooking. It's similar to a very hot grill, but much easier and the whole cooking process is really fast compared to a pan.

So give it a try. You'll be impressed. And be careful with the hot oil.

Jersey City Favorites

2013-03-22T11:34:00.004-07:00

Since we're all already #HipstersTakingPicturesOfFood, I decided to do a blog post asking everyone to send me a photo of their favorite dish in JC and I'll put them all together on a subsequent post. Just send em via facebook message or post to my timeline.

Here's mine, crab gazpacho at the Jersey City Pop-Up:

#crowdsourcing

Cooking for Health?

2013-01-07T17:20:00.000-08:00

First off, I want to say this is not a new year's resolution, or a resolution of any sort. That said, I decided to try to start eating healthy, particularly for work lunch which is usually my worst meal of the day. So I made healthy lunches for the next 6 days and put them in to go containers. After all, I have to live at least until medical science cures all disease (for americans at least) and makes me immortal.

Anyway, all the self help gurus say make it ahead and you'll keep to the plan better. So I did salmon, pork chops, mashed yams, sauteed mustard greens and pan roasted tomatoes, alternating proteins each day. All my loyal readers (aka heather) can look forward with bated breath to my rock hard beach body.

Lamb Chops, Crab Cake with Mashed Yams and Bok Choy

2013-01-05T17:27:00.002-08:00

As a prelude to our anniversary (dating anniversary, not the other thing), we we decided to do a decadent but quick and easy dinner at home. First plan was ribeyes and lobster, but lobster was a bit more work than I was interested in expending (both cooking and eating) and we eat steak often enough it seemed too boring. So, not venturing too far afield from the original menu we went from ribeye to lamb rib chop (basically the same cut of meat on a different animal) and lobster to crab cake.

The plated meal

I started with the crab cakes instead of the lamb because they can hold very well in a warm oven after they're finished. You could do the same with the chops, but if you want a nice rare lamb chop there's more chance of it starting to overcook a bit even with the oven at 200. Crab cakes are cooked through so all you need to worry about is keeping the outside nice and crisp. Its important to plan our cooking a big meal keeping these kinds of details in mind to get the best, easiest results.

Anyway, crab cakes are intimidating to many inexperienced cooks, but in fact they're one of the easiest things you can make because the crab itself is a very forgiving ingredient. Here's the basic ingredients:

1 lb Lump crab meat (Phillips is by far the best commonly available brand but others works fine)

2 egg yolks

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1/2 of a small yellow or white onion

old bay (to taste)

1 tablespoons butter

~3 oz breadcrumbs

1) For bread crumbs I used some crackers I happened to have on hand. Just crush them to a pretty fine powder. You might think adding bread is a kind of cheap filler, but in fact its a necessary and beneficial ingredient. First its a binder, otherwise the crab cake would just fall apart. Second it improves texture and helps to create the tasty brown crust during cooking. You need bread crumbs in a crab cake.

2) Combine 2 egg yolks (I have a video of how to separate the white and yolk below), mayo and old bay in a bowl and mix well.

egg, mayo, old bay mix

3) I was lazy so i skipped onions, but normal i would mince and saute half an onion for about 7 minutes and add it to the bowl

4) Add crab meat and mix gently. You should be careful here not to mush up the crab meat while you mix it. Its important to maintain the texture of the lump pieces so its more of a folding or tossing mix.

5) Add the bread crumbs and gentle mix again.

At this point you want a consistency that is not too wet but has enough egg and mayo to allow you to form a

pretty solid ball with the crab mixture. If its not wet enough add mayo, if its too wet, at a bit more bread crumbs. Then let the mix rest in the fridge for about 20 minutes (you will be prepping the lamb at this point). This lets the bread crumbs absorb moisture to help bind the crab.

6) Add a tablespoon of butter to a large pan at medium high, form patties with the crab about 3/4 - 1 inch thick (any diameter is ok). Once the butter is melted and the pan fully heated add the patties. Cook about 4-6 minutes per side (until golden brown). When they're done place on a wire rack and in the oven to the lowest setting available. I think mine is 180.

Next up, yams. This is super simple. Just throw them in the microwave skin on for 10-20 minutes depending on size and the strength of your microwave. When they're soft all the way through (test with a knife), let them cool enough to handle, then peal and mash with some olive oil or butter.

Bok Choy is a great, healthy vegetable that's very common in chinese cuisine. You can do a lot of things with them, but today I just threw them in a pan with about 3 oz of water, a little olive oil and some soy sauce. Cover and let steam for 12-15 minutes, then remove the cover and continue to cook until most of the liquid is evaporated. Put these in the oven too.

Now, the lamb chops. You should do this step earlier while the crab mix is resting.

1)Basically, just salt and season with whatever herb mix you prefer. I had a bag of dried herbs for a veggie dip I used and some black pepper (always use fresh ground. the pre-ground stuff loses all the flavor and oils and just becomes kinds bitter heat). Leave in the fringe for 30 min or up to a day covered.

2) Scrape off spice mix. This may seem weird but the point of the marinate time was to let the flavors absorb into the meat. If you left the spice mix on now it would burn in the pan leaving a bitter burnt taste in the meat.

3) Add a couple tablespoons of oil to a large pan. Its important to use oil here and not butter, because you want a very hot pan and butter will burn. Olive oil should work, but also has a somewhat low smoking temp, so vegetable or some other high temp oil is preferred. This rule applies anytime you are searing meat. You want to very hot to get browning and flavor on the outside quickly enough that it doesn't overcook, and you need a high temp oil to prevent smoking.

For a rare chop its only going to take about 3-4 minutes per side because the lamb chops are small and relatively thin.

4) As the chops finish, place them on a plate and cover to let the meat rest and the center continue to warm and cook a bit more. Meat will always keep cooking inside for a while after heat is removed, which is another reason you only need a very short cook time here. The rest also allows muscle fibers to relax and juices to redistribute making the meat more juicy and tender when you finally cut into it.

5) Finally, (i forgot to take pics of this) a great simple sauce for lamb is greek yogurt with balsamic vinegar. This tart and sweet sauce complements the very rich flavor and cuts the fat. You can serve it in a small dish on the side or place a couple spoonfuls on the plate and place the chops over it.

Now plate and enjoy. I'm not the best at artistic plating, but I did my best. A somewhat tannic, full bodied red would go well with this, also to help cut the fattiness and balance the strong flavor of the lamb. You could serve with lemon slices or a melted butter lemon sauce for the crab cake. Bon Appetit!

Homemade Lox -The Best Decision I've Made In Years

2012-12-31T09:03:00.001-08:00

Normally, I put a picture of the finished product at the end of the review, but this lox turned out so pretty I decided to open big. Now, I assume most or all of the people reading this blog are familiar with lox but there's some technical variations between lox, nova, lox, scottish lox, smoked salmon etc. There's a rundown here http://www.ehow.com/info_8265696_types-lox.html , but even that is not definitive because other lists differ on the details. But in any case, what I like flavor profile-wise is a lower salt light smoke with a lot of oil. The key for me is being able to taste the flavor of delicious, fatty salmon while at the same time concentrating and enhancing its natural flavor with a simple dry rub and bit of smokiness. So what I'm trying to recreate is a nova or scottish style lox at home.

So good lox usually costs $24-$35/lb and even when you pay that, the quality is hit or miss. With so many different types and brands I rarely know what I'm getting. If the only cured salmon you've bought is the prepackaged stuff from the supermarket, you've only had bad stuff. Some of the high-end places with fillets which they slice to order at the deli counter have great stuff, but its still uneven quality. So being able to make my own in 24 hours with minimal effort is really great because smoked salmon is probably my favorite luxury food. Now that I've waxed poetic about the ins and outs of cured fish products, lets get on to the recipe and prep.

1) Get a whole salmon filet as pictured here. I got a wild atlantic slamon, but I've read many folks who say king salmon is the best for lox because of its high oil/fat content. In any case, I'd definitely recommend a wild caught fish because of the flavor. And the thicker the better, because you lose a lot of volume as it cures and the water comes out of the fish.

2) Next you're going to scale the fillet if it hasn't been done at the store. This wasn't specified in the recipes I read, but since you're going to be putting a dry rub on both sides, I figurred removing the scales from the skin side will aid in the curing process. Its simple to do. You just take a small, sharp, non-serrated knife and scrape it across the skin against the grain of the scales, like shaving against the growth of your hair.

You can see in the picture the scales building up on the knife as I scrape left to right. When you're done rinse the fish under cold water and pat dry with paper towels.

3) Now you're going to mix your spices. This is where individual taste comes in. I used a 50-50 salt and brown sugar combo, plus about 3 tablespoons of fresh ground pepper. This is on the low side for salt of most recipes, but I found it more than sufficient. The total amount you'll need depends on the size of your fillet (or fillets). You need enough to have a heavy coating on both sides.

4) Since I don't have a cold smoker, I took a shortcut which many foodies will abhor (but many foodies are pretentious a-holes. That's why they get the shitty moniker of foodie), I substituted liquid smoke. I only learned recently that liquid smoke is not a weird Frankenstein chemical creation from the labs of Monsanto, its actually made from real wood smoke that's condensed into a liquid medium, so I don't feel bad using it in homemade food. All that said, I applied about a teaspoon to each side of the fillet rubbing it evenly across the fish. This is strong stuff, so err on the side of caution. My lox came out plenty smokey.

5) Next place the fillet on a large piece of plastic wrap (big enough that you can wrap the whole fillet up when you're done) and apply the rub to the meat side. Then carefully flip and apply rub to the skin side.

You might notice that there's no pepper in this pic. That's because I forgot it and had to add it later. Anyway, wrap the whole thing up and put it in a shallow baking pan. Then cut two small holes on the corners at the large end. This will let the liquid drain as the fish cures. I then placed a heavy wood cutting board over the fillet to press the cure in and the water out and put the whole thing in the fridge tilted slightly so the water drains away from the fillet into the pan.

6) At this point you're basically done. Most recipes advise 1-4 days curing. I did 24 hours, flipping the fillet once. When I tested a piece after 24 hours it was perfect, but you might want to go longer. When you are ready to end the cure, unwrap the fillet and rinse it under cold water and pat dry. Your lox is done.

This is what it should look like when its unwrapped before rinsing. You'll notice the salt and sugar have disappeared, absorbed into the fish or carried away with the water that drained out. You can also see the skin has darkened and dried out, losing its shiny appearance.

7) Cutting and serving lox is a bit tricky. You need a very sharp thin knife. You'll lay the salmon skin side down. The curing process will leave a thin tough layer on the outside which you want to trim off. I didn't throw this away though and plan to use it in a smoked salmon cream sauce because it still have great flavor. Here's a video of how to slice and serve - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9ET3rPJYpY

And that's it. I served this for a brunch with bagels, cream cheese, tomatoes, capers and onion but you can do lots of other delicious things with lox like omelets, pasta sauce, crostini, sushi rolls etc.

I can't stress enough how easy this process was and how great the lox was. Its some of the best lox I've had in years, and I'm picky about the stuff and about my own food. Try it and enjoy. Also, DISCLAIMER/WARNING, eating raw cured fish carries risk of disease and parasites. I am not one to worry too much since I eat seared salmon and raw sushi all the time, and figure a 24 hour salt cure makes this way safer than that. But there's always a risk, so be aware.

Spicy Ginger Pork Soup

2012-11-27T16:40:00.002-08:00

On on cold snowy night we wanted something warm for dinner and the Cooks Country we got in the mail today inspired Asian style spicy soup. The original recipe called for several things we didn't have: beef, ramen noodles,scallions, chicken broth and cilantro. But we did have pork, beef stock, etc etc. If you can't improvise, you're not really cooking. So throwing away the recipe at this point, I started with grating some ginger. You should cut off the skin first on the section you'll be using.

As you can see I just did it right into the soup pot. Then same thing with a whole lime. You want to just get the green outer layer,not the bitter white pith below. Its also important to know the oil in the rind will retain the citrus flavor when cooked, but the juice of a lime or lemon won't You should add citrus juice to most recipes toward the end.

Next I threw in a clove of garlic, some sliced ginger, a couple dried chili peppers and a bay leaf. At this point all the aromatics and spices which give the soup most of its characteristic asian flavor profile are done.

Next up, we need some liquid for a soup, so in goes about 3 cups of beef stock. Along with that, you'll want to add about the same amount of water. You can adjust to taste after you give it a chance to cook a bit. Different stocks have very different concentrations and amounts of salt.I ended up adding about a teaspoon of salt in the end. Then keeping it on high heat,take it to a boil.

Now I didn't have any ramen or rice noodles. But I did have some black squid ink spaghetti my friend Chausa brought me back from Italy. Obviously this is a big departure from the traditional rice noodle you'd see in most asian soups, but fuck it. We'll call it asian fusion. The black color at least gives the noodle a more exotic look. I threw in a half lb of spaghetti and let it boil about 10 minutes,till al dente.

While the noodles are cooking you want to take a very sharp chef's knife and slice the pork as thinly as possible. Don't go crazy, its not carpaccio, but you're going to throw this in at the very end and allow the hot broth to cook it. The fact that it cooks very quickly and is so thinly sliced allows less expensive cuts of meat to stay tender and absorb a lot of flavor. Asians are great at making cheap shit taste good.

I also chopped up some cabbage at the end and threw that in just before the pork. Then throw the pork into the boiling soup and immediately turn off the heat. Mix it gently to ensure all the pork is cooked. Add a tablespoon of soy sauce and the juice from the lime you zested. I threw some torn lettuce that was in the fridge on at the end too mainly for presentation. You'll end up with this delicious looking soup and a kitchen that smells great. Beginning to end this took about 30 minutes. So remember that if you know the flavor profile of the dish you're making, you can do it with quite a few substitutions and end up with something that is in essence the same thing.

Cook, bitches. Its easy. (I didn't even change out of my work clothes)

A Couple Thanksgiving Tips

2012-11-20T09:23:00.002-08:00

I'm not cooking thanksgiving this year, and I didn't last year either. Gotta say I miss it, but we're going to someone else's place. So instead I thought I'd giving a couple quick tips for people who are cooking and might be a little nervous. There's really no rhyme or reason to this list, I'm just making it up as I go along.

1) Plan the order you're cooking things (especially things that need the oven). For a big meal like this, planning is key. Think about how much room is in the oven, what things can be done ahead and reheated quickly at the last minute, what things can share the oven at the same temp, how time and oven space will the turkey or roast take etc. You don't want to have a bunch of pies that you can't cook because there's no room to cook them.

2) Think about serving dishes and table layout. Do you need 2 gravy boats, or an extra casserole dish? What about a second table and chairs?

3) Brine your turkey starting the day before. This really makes a huge difference in flavor and moistness (way more than I believed before I started doing it). I literally will never server a turkey unbrined again if I have a choice (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-roast-turkey-recipe/index.html). This also really helps with the breast meat drying out before the dark meat is finished. Another tip for that is to cover the breast with shiny side out aluminum foil for the first 1/3 of the cooking time. Also, if you want to cut cooking time, apparently the hot thing this year is butterflying the turkey. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/butterflied-dry-brined-roasted-turkey-with-roasted-root-vegetable-panzanella-recipe/index.html

4) Do not make stuffing with just premade packaged crap. If you want to use boxed stuffing as a base, ok, but you must add fresh vegetables (carrots, onions, garlic, thyme, celery) and stock from boiling the giblets. This makes stuffing go from blah to awesomely delicious. Also, you don't need to do stuffing in the turkey, just cook it in a casserole dish.

5) Make the gravy with the same stock from the giblets and drippings from the turkey pan. This also means keeping a bit of water in the pan while the turkey roasts to prevent drippings from burning. Once you've finished roasting the bird, throw the whole roasting pan on the stove top on medium heat and deglaze with the stock. get all the sticky goodness whisked in and thicken with a water/flour mix. Make sure after you add the flour you keep it simmering for a few minutes to cook the flour. Whisk it all smooth.

6) A rib roast is a great alternative or addition to turkey. Just puree oil, butter, garlic, salt, pepper and whatever spices into a paste and rub on the meat then roast. very easy and delicious.

7) You can cook potatoes for your mashed potatoes in the micowave (just don't peel them ahead of time or they'll dry out).

That's all I can think of right now. If you have any questions email me, unless you want really good answers, then email Alton Brown.

30 Acres

2012-08-07T12:54:00.002-07:00

I haven't had much time to do any review posts recently, so I just want to briefly mention our trip to 30 Acres. The food was really excellent all around and in particular the corned beef. I've never liked corned beef, but this was a different breed of cat, as they say. The cure they used was very mild, leaving you brisket that still tasted like beef. I don't know the details of how they they seared sliced to create a delicious crust over a silky smooth interior. Really an amazing dish. Good luck 30 Acres, seems like you're doing great so far.

Final Super Pop-Up

2012-08-07T10:52:00.002-07:00

The last Pop-Up brunch was a huge success, so thanks again to everyone who helped and attended. Here's an awesome video by Eric Acosta https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=271986546238618 for anyone who wants to check it out.

The next event is August 25th and I'm excited to announce that we'll have a guest chef! Ben Christie has worked at great restaurants in Jersey City and NYC and he'll be bringing us a 5 course modern Italian Fusion feast this month. If you haven't been to any other Pop-Up, this is the one you need to attend. As always, you can buy tickets on paypal with any credit card, just click the button below.

Brunch Pop-Up July 30th

2012-07-16T15:44:00.001-07:00

Here's the link for tickets the next Pop-Up Folks, Monday July 30th. Its gonna be a great Monday Brunch with Mimosas, Mini Biscuits and Gravy, Smoked Bacon Quiche, Apple Tartes, Lamb Breakfast Sausage and more! The menu is still in flux, but it will be delicious.
Click here to buy and reserve!

Get Your June Pop-Up Reservation Now

2012-05-25T06:32:00.003-07:00

Mexican-French Fusion is what's on the Menu for our Saturday June 23rd Pop up. The event begins at 6 PM, and will consist of a complimentary cocktail, 2 wine parings, and a five course dinner. Vegetarian options are of course available upon request. We also encourage our guests to bring a bottle of wine if they care to drink more than is provided. Tickets are $45 and are available though our pay pal account below or through square anytime you see us using a VISA, MC, AE, or DSCVR. Thank you to everyone for your support!

To Reserve your spot and make a donation use the button PayPal below. You don't need a PayPal account, you can use any credit card, just click the link that says "Don't Have A PayPal Account?"

Food Stamp Survival Meals

2012-05-17T09:32:00.000-07:00

I saw Mario Batali is doing a "Food Stamp Challenge", in which he feeds his family of 4 for a week on the amount of money food stamps would provide. I think its a great way to highlight the financial hardship so many families are facing and counter the ridiculous argument you hear from republicans so often that the poor in America are living a life of luxury on the public dole. In any case, just happened to make a great, simple dish this week with some leftovers from the Pop-Up that fit with this low price, great flavor idea.

The key to inexpensive meals is very often thing like bean, lentils, or cheap cuts of pork and beef. These items are can produce great flavors, along with some simple spiced, but can be time consuming. To take pork shoulder or a beef chuck roast tender usually takes hours of braising. And many dried beans have the same problem. So for low income people who work all day, this presents a problem. You can't come how at 6 and start a 4 hour braised beef stew. But what you can do is use a pressure cooker and cut that cooking time down to 30 or 40 minutes with almost 0 prep work.

Basically, water can only get to about 212 degrees because once it starts boiling all the heat energy gets carried away in the form of steam. This keeps cooking times high. A pressure cooker, as the name implies, keeps the pot contents under pressure. This raises the boiling point, allowing it to get much hotter and cook much faster. You can get a tender, delicious stew or chicken soup in about 40 minutes.

So for this recipe I really just looked in the fridge to see what I could clear out and we had Kale, cherry tomatoes, a red onion and cubed pork shoulder and chops. The pork chops and should I just threw right in the pot. You could sear them first to develop some browning and flavor, but you really don't need to. This recipe will provide a lot of flavor without it. I chopped the kale and onion and threw that in with the whole tomatoes. Next I added a few cloves of garlic, salt, pepper, 3 dried bay leaves, some hot sauce and a bag of lentils. Then I put in one cup of canned beef broth and water to cover everything. You could also throw in potatoes or any other vegetable you have on hand. You could use a whole chicken, or beef or whatever. That's the beauty of this type of stew. Anything on hand can be substituted.

Then on with the pressure cooker top, high heat till it starts to steam (maybe 10 minutes) and then turn the heat down to medium low and let it continue to cook for 30 or so minutes. If you had a really big single piece of pork or beef you can do 45 minutes. Then hit the release valve to let the steam exit and you're all set. A really delicious, hearty and healthy soup which can feed a family for very little cost.

The first JC Pop-Up

2012-05-14T10:13:00.002-07:00

Thanks to the amazing photographer Rebecca for providing these:

JC Pop-Up Menu

2012-04-09T05:59:00.000-07:00

We're still not 100% set (in particular we haven't decided on the vegetarian entree), but here's the preliminary menu for May 12th.

Amuse Bouche:
Creamy Coconut Milk curry, mango chili paste, cilantro and jersey corn

Appetizer:
Homemade Fresh Duck and Pork Sausage with fresh thyme, rosemary and basil

Salad:
Frisée and Endive Salad w Warm Brussels Sprouts, Citrus Sections and Toasted Pecans in Mustard Vinaigrette

Entree:
Braised Beef Rib, Cranberry Ginger Teriyaki glaze, fresh Pea Greens and Aligot Potatoes

Desert:
Cheese Cake with caramelized mango and banana

Get Tickets for Jersey City Pop-Up - May 12th 2012

2012-04-05T07:52:00.020-07:00

For right now we're only releasing 10 tickets to the public, but the total seating will be 30 guests. We're offering a 2 course wine pairing for an additional $10 per person, but the event is BYOB so feel free to bring your own wine, beer etc.
To reserve your ticket and make a donation to help cover our costs, click the Pay-Pal link below. You don't need a Pay-Pal account, you can use any major credit card. Just look near the bottom where it says:

Don't have a PayPal account?
Use your credit card or bank account (where available). Continue

Once you're done, just print out your receipt and bring it with you to dinner. If you're bringing a guest, don't forget to change the quantity to "2" when you get to the donation form. We'll see you on May 12th!

Jersey City Pop-Up Restaurant

2012-03-20T16:48:00.000-07:00

Most of our friends already know we're planning a Jersey City Pop-Up Restaurant Series Starting in May. We hope to do 1 per month for at least 6 months. Here's the blurb I wrote up for our Kickstarter Project Page (yet to be approved):

We want to partner with local businesses and organizations in Downtown Jersey City to promote local chefs and local food, stimulate the culinary community and provide a new venue for creativity and socialization among the local residents and business people. Its our believe that sharing great food is a key part of building meaningful relationships and creating a sense of shared community, trust and friendship. We also love to cook, serve host and eat! The Pop-Up Restaurant concept lets us bring together our love of food and desire to bring more people in Jersey City together, while providing a great venue for local chefs to showcase their skills and vision. There will be a fee to attend which will cover food and equipment costs, but the exact price will be determined by how much money we raise in donations.

We hope that those who share our passions and interests will see value in this project and both donate to support it and join us at the dinner table. The dates and details will be forthcoming, but we have already secured a venue for the first Pop-Up Restaurant night and plan on a date in early May. Everyone who donates will be contacted by email with details. Because of limited space we cannot guarantee a seat, but you will be given priority over other attendees. Thank you!

Jersey city getting (fist) pumped for Jersey shore

2012-02-08T16:05:00.001-08:00

all the latest gossip will nee covered later including whet they're living and the fox give interview at Marcos will be posted soon. bring it on jwow.

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JC Sakura - There's Nothing Fishy About This Place

2012-02-07T14:54:00.000-08:00

Fran and I have been going to JC Sakura Sushi for 4 years now whenever we need a sushi fix. They do both take out and have a small, simple dining room. I won't to pretend to be a sushi connoisseur, but every time we've eaten there it has been a pleasant experience with fresh, good sushi for a reasonable price. Some people can differentiate yellow tail and striped bass just from the flavor. I cannot. What I look for in sushi is freshness, both in appearance and taste, and lots of wasabi. Call me uncultured, I just call it delicious.

Our Sushi Sashimi Combo

Our most recent trip to JC Sakura was no exception to the usual fresh fish and good portions. Fran and I shared a Queens Roll, (spicy tuna & cucumber, tempura, crunch, wrapped w. salmon & tuna) roll to start. It was nice and spicy, and the tempura bits inside gave each piece a nice crunch. We also split a Sushi, Sashimi combo, which consisits of salmon, tuna, white tuna, eel, shrimp, and a few other "unidentifiable to the untrained sushi eye" slices. All of which were yummy and fresh. The last item on our menu that night was Uni or sea urchin. I had never tried it before but I'll try anything once, right?....I should have said wrong. I consider myself an adventurous eater, but I was put back in my elementary-understanding-of-sushi place when this came out. So, let me preempt this with the fact that Fran liked it, and after talking to a few friends, I find it's not as out there as I thought it would be. The sea urchin came over two rolls of rice, and has the appearance of a tiny tongue, and the color of boxed mashed potatoes. I decided not to think to much about it and just go for it. Once in my mouth, it felt like a cold, wet booger. Though I have to say, if you can get past that(I didn't get past it, had trouble swallowing as to not make a scene), the flavor was nice. Sea urchin has the flavor of a mouthfull of fresh, cold seawater that's pleasant and not too strong. I was happy to wash it down with ample amounts of Saki, lets just say at that point I was drinking to forget.

Heather is a dummy who doesn't like Uni (don't worry, she wants to keep it funny!) - Francis

Overall, JC Sakura is my favorite Sushi place I've tried in Jersey City. It's got an unpretentious vibe, and very Japanese and efficient staff. I've heard some critics of the place say that the staff is off putting and rude, but I honestly think it's just a language barrier, the staff seems truly Japanese. They even gave us a VIP card! Watch out world! Here we come!

Douggie finishes up the leftovers since we forgot to get cat food

He's also a fan of JC Sakura

Oven Thermometer Update or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Oven

2012-02-01T15:38:00.000-08:00

So as I mentioned buying an Admetior oven thermometer a couple weeks ago because I thought my oven temp wasn't accurate. Well, turns out I was wrong. The built in oven thermometer and the Admetior thermometer were very close, within 5 degrees. The problem is it took the oven much longer than i though to get up to the set temp. I think it was about 20 or so minutes. So i wasted money but at least now I know.

I'd Like to Lodge a Complaint

2012-01-30T19:27:00.000-08:00

I think the title tips you off that I wasn't too happy with Lodge in Brooklyn. As you can see if you click through to their website, they've got the whole trendy, alternative, hipster ethos down. This website's got it all, a birdcage, a bowler hat, a rocking chair and a typewriter, all in appropriately vintage monochrome print form. But its williamsburg, so par for the course. When we get there its pretty pleasant actually and not particularly pretentious. Its a pretty decent space with big windows and pleasant servers. No complaints there.

The menu looked promising as well. Very standard fare like sticky ribs, artichoke dip, steak salad, pork loin au poivre, fried ravioli, mac and cheese etc. Definitely not haute cuisine, but it looked like a hearty, simple menu that that should provide some tasty choices. Then, lo and behold, I saw the special was a grass fed rib eye. Rib eye is the king of steak; full flavored, tender and riddled with fat. Glorious fat! What a lesser patron might cut away in disgust, the true epicurean will pick off their plate with reckless abandon. The fools.
So, anyway, my entree was set. And being as I had woken up at 4, had a small breakfast and dinner was at six, Heather and I split an app of artichoke dip. And she had the meat loaf as an entree.

I'll start with the artichoke dip. It was OK, and the artichoke was pretty nice and chunky, with decent flavor. It lacked a few things though. First its wasn't cheesy enough for me. It needed some, or more, parmesan. Second, the color and overall appearance was not appealing. It had the pale yellow color of egg salad. I know this sounds pretentious, but presentation is an important part of a meal, and when I go out to a nice dinner I expect the kitchen to know that. I think I can safely say the pic below looks more like egg salad at a church picnic than artichoke dip "with crostini" at a restaurant.

Egg Salad?

Artichoke Dip with Crostini (not available at Lodge)

To be fair, many people at the table really liked the artichoke dip.

On to the steak. I ordered medium rare and it was served with onion rings. It was cooked to a perfect medium rare and had a nice crust and a dollop of herb butter. Problem is, I don't think it was a rib eye. Just looking at it, it looks a lot more like a NY strip than a rib eye. I thought, where's all the fat? Why's it shaped like a "strip"? Then I took a bite and it was way more lean and tough than any rib eye I've had. Now, it may be that this is all because its grass fed beef, which is supposed to be leaner, but I've had grass fed beef before and never noticed a rib eye taste like a strip steak. The onion rings were ok, obviously fresh made and not frozen. But the batter was a little bland and didn't adhere well to the onion. When you picked on up, half the batter fell off.

Below are pics of a couple other entrees. My friend Chris was very happy with his grilled salmon, Jenna liked her veggie burger and brussel sprouts. The sticky rib appetizer was very tender, big for an app and very tasty and the steak salad was one of the best entrees. The steak was tender and the arugula was fresh (though a bit over dressed).

We missed a picture of the meatloaf, but it was under seasoned, overcooked and a bit on the dry side. Heather also didn't like the homemade ketchup they used as a sauce. The mashed potatoes were fine and the brussel sprouts were, according to heather, the "saving grace" of the dish.

The other problem I had with Lodge is they added automatic gratuity to our check for a party of 6 and it was 20% on the after tax total. I'm not cheap when i tip, and in fact to tip on after tax total. But in general I don't like automatic gratuity (that's the opposite of gratuity, its just part of the bill), and on a party of just 6 people it seems ridiculous. Second, if you make it automatic, the restaurant certainly shouldn't presume to tip 20%. It defeat the whole point of tipping when ANY level of service gets a very good tip. Our service was good, and I would have happily paid 20% (as would all my friends) but I don't appreciate the way it was done at Lodge. And I know that may all seem like cheapskate nitpicking but its my opinion.

It may seem like this is a rough review, and it was, but there's no point in doing reviews if they're always good. So good luck to Lodge, I hope that it was just an off night and you continue to be successful. Don't let one bad review get lodged in you craw.

In closing, the best part of the night was this beautiful and well behaved young lady at her very first dinner out.

Spicy Thai Style Braised Beef

2012-01-30T09:19:00.000-08:00

My friend Pep and her husband have been getting into cooking over the last year or so and she called Heather yesterday to say she was making a braised beef stew. Not sure how she liked it yet, but it put me in a hearty beef stew mood, and since it was Sunday I had tons of time to do a nice braise. I was in the mood for something with bolder flavors and more spice than a standard european style braised beef stew or even the delicious and rich beef bourguignon.

Most of the ingredients and spices (I threw in some

extra stuff after tasting a few times)

I thought about simple vietnamese style spicy braised beef, which was the sort of flavors i was in the mood for, but I still wanted something stew-ish that I could ladle over rice. The solution, i decided, was a thai curry stew with a thick coconut milk based broth. Going through this though process is something that you get much better at the more you cook and the more you eat out. I make a point of picking new things to cook and eat so I'm exposed to new ideas I can use. Being able to improvise based on mood, available ingredients, guests etc make cooking more fun and interesting. So try new things, mix it in with your own cooking and don't worry about screwing it up. You really do learn more from your mistakes than your successes in the kitchen.

So to start with, here's the ingredients:
note: I don't include amounts for most ingredients because its mostly spices to taste. I like a lot of spice and pungent flavors in this dish, but you might not. The great thing about a braised dish like this is you can taste and add spices anytime once the braising liquid is added.

2.5 lbs beef chuck roast (other cuts are fine, but you need something with a lot of fat and connective tissue. otherwise the braising process will leave you with dry meat)
vegetable oil
ginger
grape tomatoes
cillantro
red onion
white mushrooms 1-2 pints
garlic (5-10 cloves)
2 8oz cans coconut milk
1 8oz can chicken broth
2 hot fresh peppers such as cayenne, thai, habanero. here i used 2 scotch bonnets.
cumin
cardamom
curry powder
black pepper
salt
tumeric
bay leave
cayenne power
paprika
dried chili pods (here is used dried pequin pepers)
fish sauce
white vinegar
white rice

So step one is to cube you beef. I did approximately 3/4 in cubes. Don't worry if it seems like there's a lot of fatty pieces, you want that fat. During the cooking process it will break down and just give you a nice velvety sauce and moist meat.

Now salt the cubed beef liberally and heat a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil in a dutch oven on high heat. You can substitute any large thick bottomed pot but a dutch over or optimal because it can build a nice fond on the ceramic bottom (unlike non-stick coating pots) and it is easy to deglaze the fond and get it incorporated into the sauce (unlike cast iron or stainless steal). Once the oil is very hot and shimmering, add just enough beef to cover the bottom. If you over fill you will not brown. The cooking meat will add too much moisture and most pieces won't make direct contact with the pot. The key point to this whole step is to create a brown crust on the meat AND on the bottom of the pot. Both add important flavor and color to the dish.

This is about 60% done browning (but the color balance is terrible)

If you look at the 2 picture below you'll see both the browning of the meat and fond on the pot you want. It may look like the fond is burnt but its not. You want this bark brown, but not black, so you do have to be careful and monitor heat, especially after the moisture released from the meat has evaporated.

Continue cooking the meat in batches, until its well browned. You will have to turn it so it browns on both sides. While the batches are cooking you can chop all your other ingredients and mix all your powder spices in a bowl.

The ginger and garlic should be minced, the onion cut in strips, the mushrooms and cilantro roughly chopped and tomatoes left whole. The various types of cuts affect both appearance and how how they cook. For example, if you don't mince the ginger its too tough and fibrous to eat. The mushrooms are tomato are left in large pieces mainly because they look nice when served.

After you finish the beef, reduce heat to medium, add the onions and cover to let them sweat. this speeds the cooking process and traps the moisture which prevents the fond from burning. After 5-7 minutes add the garlic and ginger, recover and cook 5 minutes.

Next, add the tomatoes, mushrooms and chicken stock. Using a wooden or plastic spoon, scrape the pan bottom to loosen the fond and mix it into the stock. Then add back the cooked beef, two cans of coconut milk, cilantro, diced scotch bonnets, dried pepper pods, cardamom, powered spice mix, bay leaves, fish sauce and white vinegar. Its all to taste, but be cautious with the fish sauce. Its very strongly flavored and if you're not asian, you might hate it. You can also add lemon grass at this point but i didn't have any. At the end I add lime juice. Its best to wait till after cooking to add the lime juice because it looses its flavor in cooking.

Now cover and cook on med low for about 1.5 hours (or at about 300 in the oven). You can taste a couple times through the braising process to see if you want to add more spice or other flavorings. The cooking process will change the flavors as you proceed. I added a lot during this dish, but its important to remember you can always ADD but its much hard to TAKE OUT, so do a little at a time, especially with the very strong components like hot peppers or fish sauce.

After 1.5 hours or so, taste a final time and make any adjustments. Then ladle about a half cup of liquid into a small bowl, add about 1.5 tablespoons of corn starch (or if you don't have corn starch about 5 tablespoons of flour) and mix well with a fork or whisk. Then turn the stew back to med high and add the starch mixture. This will thicken the sauce and make it "stick" to the stew components and the rice on which I serve it. Let the stew come back to a simmer for another 5 minutes and then you're done. You can take the dutch oven off the stove to cool for about 15 minutes, then serve over rice. For me this is a dish that doesn't need any other sides. And remember that there are a hundred variations and adjustments you can make to this recipe. You could use pork, or chicken. You could add bell papers or asparagus or lentils. Once you know the basics and are familiar with the flavors and techniques its time to make the specific dish you want.

Final dish plated with white rice. The bright and contrasting colors really enhance the dish.

Another Greek Bankruptcy...In Jersey City

2012-01-27T18:17:00.000-08:00

Just a quick rant about Its Greek To Me on Newark and Jersey Ave. I have no problem with the place but why is it so expensive? I got a gyro, a salad and some calamari to go, none which was great, and it was 31 bucks. Which is probably why the place is always empty, and I imagine, destined for default unless the ECB steps in. But I don't think Mario Draghi even likes gyros.

Spread the Bread

2012-01-25T07:36:00.000-08:00

We're moving up the nerd cooking ladder into bread and I have no idea what I'm doing. I've probably made bread twice before in my life, plus pizza dough maybe 5 or 10 times. None of it was particularly good. I spend a day trying to make brioche about 10 years ago, and it was a day wasted. But with the blog waiting and camera phone in hand, Once more unto the breach, dear friends!

I wanted to start with something simple, and I don't have a bread pan, so I perused the web for a dutch oven bread recipe. I remember hearing that you can do a nice crusty bread in a dutch oven, so I found this recipe:
http://themerlinmenu.blogspot.com/2010/10/dutch-oven-bread.html
1 package active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 cups bread flour or all-purpose flour and a bit more for dusting the bread after rising.

I was almost out of flour so I had to decrease the whole thing by 1/3 since I had just 2 cups. First off, I was surprised that every dutch oven recipe, and most of the "simple bread" recipes use no eggs or milk. I really know nothing about bread making, but I thought bread and milk were pretty standard ingredients. I'm gonna have to sit down and read a book I guess, but in the meantime any guidance is welcome in the comments.

Pre-rise dough

Anyway, I did add a bit of brown sugar to the warm water and yeast to promote growth and threw in some corn meal since I was out of flour and the dough was unworkably wet after the first rise. I have to say, I was surprised how easy the process is. The rising takes time, but actual active cooking is probably less than 20 minutes, and that's with me having no idea what I'm doing. I pre-heated to 500 and put the bread in covered reducing immediately to 450. After 20 minutes, I took off the cover to allow browning.

You can see that the bread came out very nice visually. It had a think, hearty crust and browned well.

The problems came with tasting. The bread was just very, very bland. Even the smell of the cooking bread was bland, so I guess the flavor should have been no surprise. When people call something boring and bland "White Bread", this is the actual loaf they're referencing. With some butter and salt, it was still pretty delicious. We ate about half the loaf (but we were also drunk and I was swigging vodka out of a plastic 1.75 liter bottle). So, foodies and nerds, what's the solution? I think it was under salted for one. But can I just add some butter too? eggs yolks? maybe some milk instead of water? I have no clue how any of that will affect the bread and unlike normal cooking I don't think I can just throw shit it hear and there to taste. This is baking, yo! Please help.

Oven Temperature

2012-01-24T08:58:00.000-08:00

I'm getting to be pretty sure my built in oven thermometer isn't correct (i think it runs low) and i'm planning to start bread baking. With bread and baking in general accurate temperate is a must, so I ordered this http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003EDY97U/ref=ox_ya_os_product thermometer today. I'll be back once its delivered to report on it and my oven. I'm also planning to get one of the laser instant temp readers. That lets you take an oven temp (but you have to open to oven door) and you can get instant reads on oil temperatures for frying too. They only run about 20 bucks.